"KLH 5353 Diaries" is a collection of memories connected to an old car — stories of family, neighbours, journeys, mishaps and a way of life that now feels increasingly distant.
“Can you do it?”
It was a simple enough question.
I was only fourteen, perhaps just short of fifteen. It was late at night. Someone was banging rather desperately on our gate, and Appan 1 was asking me if I could do something I had never done before.
I was not altogether certain that I could.
But I said yes.
It had been only a couple of months since KLH 5353 2 had come into our lives. By then I had taken a few driving lessons and had acquired what I considered a reasonable degree of competence behind the wheel. After three or four lessons, in fact, I had begun to suspect that I could drive as well as most people on the road. This confidence may have had less to do with my driving ability and more to do with the fact that I was fourteen.
But until that night, I had never taken the car out without the instructor beside me.
We had finished dinner and were winding up for the day when, at about half past nine or ten, we heard the clanging at the front gate.
There was something unmistakably urgent about it.
Appan and I went out and found one of our neighbours at the gate. The youngest daughter of their family, whom I will call A-Chechi 3, had returned to her parents’ home for the birth of her first child. She had suddenly developed severe labour pains and needed to be rushed to the hospital.
In those days, an ambulance was not necessarily the quickest answer to an emergency. It might take an hour to arrive, maybe longer. If someone had to reach a hospital quickly, one looked for a neighbour with a car, a taxi, or perhaps an autorickshaw 4.
That night, the neighbourhood car was standing ready.
Unfortunately, the neighbourhood driver was not.
Appan had a licence but did not know how to drive. I knew how to drive, or at least I thought I did, but was too young to have a licence. Between the two of us, we made one fully qualified driver, though I am not sure a traffic policeman would have appreciated the arrangement.
There was of course, nothing legal or remotely sensible about the idea of me driving. But that night, with a woman in labour and no other driver available, circumstances left very little time for sensible decisions.
There were practical difficulties as well. It was night, and I had never driven alone. And getting the car out of our compound was itself no small achievement. The house had not been designed with a car in mind. The gate, the pillars, the wall and the narrow lane outside came together to create an obstacle course that required considerable skill to negotiate. One wrong movement of the steering wheel and KLH 5353 would leave the compound with a large dent, or possibly, without some portion of itself.
By then, A-Chechi’s cries could be heard from the house across the lane.
Appan looked at me.
“Can you do it?”
I do not know how confident Appan was that I could manage it. And truth be told, neither was I. But this was not the time for either of us to conduct a detailed assessment of my driving skills.
I ran inside and grabbed the keys.
I smelt adventure.
Now that may seem like a strange reaction when a woman was in labour and needed urgent help. But I was fourteen. There was an emergency, a car key in my hand and, for the first time, there would be no instructor sitting beside me.
I started the car and carefully eased it through the gate. Maybe the seriousness of the moment sharpened my driving skills. Or maybe I was simply lucky. Either way, the car came out without hitting the wall or scraping either pillar.
That itself felt like a small victory.
A-Chechi’s house was almost opposite ours. I reversed along the narrow lane and stopped at their gate.
She was helped into the car by the women of the family. I cannot now remember exactly who came with us, only that several people crowded in around her.
Our car did not have individual seats in front. It had one long seat on which three people could sit comfortably. Four could sit if comfort was temporarily removed from the list of requirements. That night, comfort was the last thing on anyone’s mind.
Soon, we were on our way.
A-Chechi was in the back, screaming in pain. The women around her were trying to comfort her. Appan sat beside me; there may have been one or two others squeezed into the front seat with us.
The main road was about a hundred metres from our house. When we reached it, there was no uncertainty about where to go. A-Chechi had been seeing a gynaecologist at Lisie Hospital, a couple of kilometres away. I turned left and drove towards the hospital.
Years later, during another emergency journey in the same car, I would face a very different choice 5. I would turn right, towards the nearer hospital, get trapped at a closed railway gate and sit helplessly behind the steering wheel while a man died inside KLH 5353.
But that was still in the future.
I do not remember much about the drive itself that night. Nothing went wrong. We did not get stuck in traffic. The car did not break down. And despite all the screaming from the back, A-Chechi did not deliver inside KLH 5353.
We reached Lisie Hospital in quick time. She was taken out on a stretcher and rushed to the labour room. Within about half an hour, the baby was born.
I think Appan and I returned home soon after dropping them at the hospital. The drive back was very different. The car that had been filled with cries, worry and confusion was now quiet. The long front seat that had been crowded with people had only Appan and me sitting on it.
I cannot remember if he said anything about my driving.
Perhaps he did not need to.
I have sometimes wondered how we know when a child is ready for responsibility. The circumstances that night were hardly a model to be followed, but they left me with a question I have thought about a lot since: do we wait until we are certain that a child can handle responsibility, or does responsibility itself sometimes help make him ready?
We naturally want to protect our children from anything for which they may not be ready. But could it be that confidence sometimes follows responsibility, rather than the other way around?
There had been no carefully planned handing over of responsibility that night. Appan had not suddenly decided that it was time for his son to become independent. A woman was in labour, there was a car at hand, and I was the only person who could drive it. Circumstances made the decision for both of us.
There was no time to decide whether I was ready. I had to take the wheel and find out.
When we reached back home, guiding the car through the gate somehow seemed much easier. After all, I was no longer taking the car out for the first time; I was bringing it back after my first independent drive.
Looking back on that night, the baby was not born inside the car. KLH 5353 missed witnessing the actual birth by about half an hour. But somewhere between our house and Lisie Hospital, something else had happened.
A young boy had left home believing that he could drive, though not altogether certain of it.
He returned knowing that he could.
In that sense, perhaps KLH 5353 did witness a birth that night after all.
1 Appan: father
2 KLH 5353: our black Ambassador, introduced in "The Neighbourhood Car"
3 Chechi: elder sister; also used as a respectful and affectionate way of addressing an older woman
4 Autorickshaw: a three-wheeled motorised taxi commonly used in India
5 That later journey is recounted in "The Scream of Death"
Comments (71)
What an experience at fourteen! At that age today we probably wouldn't even trust our children to go to the shop alone!
One thing I kept thinking while reading - what if the baby had decided not to wait that extra half hour!!
there would have been a strong case for naming the child AmbiKuttan or AmbiKutti
What a beautiful story. I loved how the journey to the hospital became so much more than just a drive, it was almost a coming-of-age moment. That last line about witnessing a birth in its own way was especially lovely.
Those late night calls always meant something serious in those days.
yes.. i think similar were the telegrams (during our parents times) . A telegram almost always meant something bad!!
The contrast with The Scream of Death is so good - same car, another emergency, another scream, but two completely different endings
Your poor driving instructor. A few lessons and his student was already doing emergency ambulance runs
Thank you for sharing this, Dinu. Very true. As a parent, I often wait until I think they're ready before I give them responsibility. I need to shift my mindset and recognize that responsibility itself helps build confidence.
knowing you and the kids, you dont have to change anything
Dinuchan, thank you so much for sharing your latest blog. I truly enjoyed it. It was so engaging and interesting. I especially loved the last part, where KLH 5353 witnessed the real birth of a great adventurer behind the wheel as well as a creative writer. What a beautiful way to conclude the story! Keep writing and sharing your wonderful experiences.
Very well written Dinuchayan.
Unfortunately, I didn't get any such chance with my dad :)
Can understand the sense of adventure you would have felt that day.
Another beautiful very well written story. As always I am really really proud of you and I really love to read. Thank God for all His gifts!!
Really enjoyed this one, Dinucha. Responsibility came first, and somewhere on the way to Lisie Hospital, confidence followed. The ending about KLH 5353 witnessing a different kind of birth was beautiful. One of the best in this series.
Insightful read. Thank you for sharing this. For me even now, taking the car out in narrow parking lots, even from my own house is still a difficult task. So true- we never really know when our kids are ready for responsibility. Sometimes a parent's instinct just knows.
Beautiful anecdote, Dinu. What stayed with me most was the confidence your father had in you?the trust he placed in you to take on that responsibility in the middle of an emergency, that was just deeply moving to me. Please keep this coming ,Dinu ,Nice of you to share and take us all along your journey .
This blog could not have come to me at a better time… I was questioning myself about infinite loop between independence and accountability and the parent’s role in it for a good few months now… thank you for this beautiful sneak peek into a teenager’s brain
"the neighbourhood driver was not" Perfect setup.
When Appu derive the Honda and scratched the door. The calmness I experienced was beyond my understanding. Now I can relate. Well written. Loved the details.
Beautifully written, Dinu. Starting off like a thriller and ending up as a reflection on parenting, trust and growing up
Well written Dinu, as always - food for thought.
Many of our innermost critical skills are latent. They sit quietly in our subconscious and only surfaces when in a crisis or high-pressure situations.
True for every transition period in our lives - it rewrites our identity
Another beautiful written story filled with emotion, courage, and the quiet strength that comes from stepping up when life calls for it. I really enjoyed reading this.
You have a gift for taking an ordinary memory and finding something much larger hidden inside it.
Wow Dinu! What an experience at 14!! I can just imagine the anxiety,tension and stress....literally a storm in the car and you were still able to drive! The thought that came to me is...God does not call the qualified but equips and enables the 'called' to fulfil His purposes and plans Thanks for sharing Dinu ...
couldn't agree more.. thanks for taking the time to read and comment
The legal disclaimer made me smile. Definitely a story from another time and definitely not for Singapore!!
I’m sure Appan must have felt incredibly proud watching his 14-year-old accomplish it. The best learning comes from diving in and gaining real-world experience.
indeed
Your writing targeting not just malayalees but the world wide audience, are quite refined and setting new benchmarks as time progresses. Hope to see one of these published in one of the English newspapers here ... Quite enjoyable to read and takes us to a different era
not so sure about that .. until then will stay on The Overbridge..
Thx for sharing Dinu. Nicely written. Soft, short, easy read Nice ending esp for parents - (a) when is your child ready for responsibilities (b) how to give responsibilities so that they have a sense of high emotional purpose, high pressured to automatically avoid distractions?
I have heard about this incident before. I think, Kochappen had told me ..
Sure the confidence of both of you made such a situation to end happily.
Good style in writing.
you will like the next episode for sure
Lovely read. I had an experience of delivering a baby long before getting married. A frightening experience though.
Hope to read more.
wow.. would love to hear about that..don't think I've heard it before..
Ah ! This story of all others shared so far, provides the sharpest preview of who fourteen year old grew to be, in my mind ! Well done, then and now with the story.
This is what I like about these KLH stories. The car is there, but ultimately the stories are about people.
"There was no time to decide whether I was ready. I had to take the wheel and find out." So true not just of driving but of life itself!
KLH 5353 seems to have accumulated more stories in a few years than many cars manage in a lifetime!
Your articles are mostly thought provoking.
When are our children ready ?
Big question!
Legal age of marriage - we all know what the law says!
Is my daughter ready ? Is the boy responsible enough ? Is she ready to have a baby ? How can they be the best parents to a new born whose early ages are the most important years in their development( the new born's ).
Several logical questions that never have a logical answer!
Legal age of driving ? Legal age to vote ?
We are living in a world where we are consistently learning and evolving.
Yet everyone expects perfection. How can everything be right when it starts imperfectly.
Doesn't this sound weird ?
Having lived 54 years, I am still learning how to behave - time has evolved, environment has evolved, challenges have evolved, technology has evolved.
You should start a blog too.. but seriously no easy answers there..
The old Ambassador seems to have been ambulance, family car, neighbourhood car and driving school all rolled into one
something more also - but that's for the next part
Well written Dinu...God Bless...keep going... memories of life
So beautifully written Dinu uncle. Your writing really brings the reader to exactly where you were when you experienced this
I suspect KLH 5353 had no idea what sort of family it had been bought into
You are Appan's son, in whom he is well pleased.
Well written... As usual.
And does the baby know this story?? Would be interesting to know!
Strange that you ask - for some reason I dont remember any followups from the incident.. we sort of moved from there also not too long after..
Did A-Chechi know her emergency driver had never driven alone before?
I guess not not that it would have mattered much..
It made for a lovely read. Almost felt like I was the driver that night. Thank you for sharing and please do continue to write the “tales of KLH 5353”
V beautiful.Succint.
Another wonderful KLH 5353 story
i loved it dinu uncle. your style of writing is so nice. very engaging too how you bring everything together
Beautiful writing and transportation to some relatable incidents in my memory as well
Another great tale wher is is almost like we are with you. Really happy to be a part of it with you.
Such memories are priceless. Thanks for sharing, Paul
Loved this one. Such a simple incident, but so beautifully told.
Appan had a licence ........ appreciated the arrangement. Humour,irony paradox all packed into those couple of lines How do you manage to do that! Lovely read, Dinu!
I enjoyed the humour running quietly through what was actually a very tense situation. Especially the licence/driver combination
I think many of us became adults in moments like this, long before anyone formally told us we were ready.
couldn't agree more
Reading this I realised how much childhood has changed. We probably had more risks, but we were also given responsibilities much earlier.
Often we had no choice, they were thrust upon us
"Waiting for confidence before giving responsibility" - perhaps as parents, we do sometimes get the order wrong.
yes, mostly we learn on the job
A very enjoyable read from beginning to end.
Very well written. Simple, warm and nostalgic.
Amazing that you can remember these moments after so many years with so much detail.
I have read the earlier KLH story too, and the left turn/right turn reference gave me a chill. This time you turned left and reached in time. Years later that right turn would become such a painful memory.
Yes, often it is one turn that makes all the difference
My first thought was - FOURTEEN!!! My second thought was that in an emergency people are capable of things they themselves did not know they could do.
Another memory beautifully parked on The Overbridge
Sometimes the only way to discover whether we can do something is to be placed in a situation where we simply have to do it! Beautiful piece, Dinu!
fourteen-year-old confidence At fourteen we knew everything!
Great story telling as always!
Good one Paul
"comfort was temporarily removed from the list of requirements."
Beautiful ending
I remember those Ambassador front seats! Three comfortably, four somehow, and probably five if the situation demanded it
"Between the two of us, we made one fully qualified driver"
A black Ambassador, a woman screaming in labour, a fourteen-year-old at the wheel and your dad calmly sitting next to him. What a scene!
Nice article. Enjoyed reading it.
Once again KLH 5353 feels less like a car and more like one of the characters in the family.
Really enjoyed this. Thanks Dinu